Saturday, March 26, 2011

The Spring Garden

Spring has sprung in Madrid. The trees have flowered, grass is green and it´s raining a lot.
V spent some time cleaning up the terrace, including the already mentioned visit to the mall for potting soil, pots, replacement roses and I picked up a few seeds while we were there.

The azaleas are almost ready.


The rosemary survived and is showing off.


The roses that did make it are showing a strong start after a plague of aphids.



The pear tree has buds.


And I´ve started some more seeds: Brandywine tomatoes, some basil, sage and chamomile, parsley and cilantro. Fingers crossed.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Shaving soap

Yesterday, I had my first Lush experience. Lush is a soap store chain from the UK, I think. We were at the mall (Dog help me) mostly shopping for stuff for the terrace since spring seems to have sprung here - yippeee! And low and behold there it was - the smell set you back a little upon entering. Some beautifully presented soaps - and far more rustic than I was expecting. Mostly selling for 4.50€ per 100 grams which would be hard for a small seller to match without their economies of scale.

It turns out that setting up as an artisanal soap maker is complicated. Lots of bureaucratic hoops to jump through. It remains to be seen if this is a viable business idea, or more of an expensive hobby.

I read a lot of soaping sites now, since I like it so well. There are some really beautiful things being created out there. Check out Cocobong, Latherati,Future Primitive, Jaboneando (in Spanish), and the delightful Jenora .

Latest effort - Shaving Soap made with kaolin clay and scented with lemongrass, lavender and vetiver. I kept whipping this for a long time after trace (and blew the fuses a couple of times until I switched from the stick blender to a regular hand blender) to try to get those lovely ¨peaks¨ that look so inviting on other people´s bars. Still need to play with setting times, I think.



We picked up the small bowl in Sober, in the Ribeira Sacra region of Lugo. They burn the ceramic over a wood fire to turn it black (cerámica negra).

Friday, March 18, 2011

Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, everyone!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Happy Fat Tuesday


It´s Carnaval time again (Entroidos in Galicia). Now since I am old and crabby, we don´t celebrate on school nights, but I´m hoping when we´re living there we can make more of an effort.

Carnaval is celebrated all over Galicia, but there are a few places with especially significant traditions.

In Laza the “piliqueiros” or “cigarróns” in Verin pictured above, put on their ruffliest pantaloons, strap on their cowbell bustles and run around hitting people with flails. No I´m not kidding.

In Laza, Orense they pelt each other with wet muddy rags, or sacks of flour,or red ants in the main plaza.



In Salcedo, Lugo the Oso or ¨Bear¨ and his helpers hand out a little light public humiliation in the form of mud/ash smeared on the face of gathered citizens.



Pancakes are eaten - in this case crepe-like ¨filloas¨



But for shear over-the-top ridiculous spectacle I think you have to give it to Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Carmen Miranda and her fruity hat has nothing on these gals.



Oh, and coincidence?





I think not.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Salt Soap


Salt soaps made in purchased molds. They were a little crumbly, but released pretty well after a session in the freezer. It is a 500 gram recipe of 75% coconut oil, 15 % Shea Butter and 10% castor oil, adding 500 grams of salt at trace. I got to use a silicon ¨madeleine¨ tea cake mold from Lidl for the first time and what a difference! They all came out easily and intact.

Now I just have to wait 6 months for them to cure to a really hard, exfoliating bar.